- This topic has 12 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I have Direct TV and am thinking of changing to a streaming service. You Tube looks pretty good to me but I want to find one that gives the widest sports coverage. Suggestions anyone?
I can offer a bit of peripheral info, Sooner.
First, if you have a wife you probably already are paying for Amazon Prime which includes the streaming service, so investigate what sports you can get there.
Second, get an antenna to supplement streaming with broadcast. (I think basketball is on one of the broadcast networks.) If you live in a metro area and don’t need to pull in distant signal, a cheap table top one about the size of a coffee mug works fine.
Sooner, having lived out in the boonies, then the city and now the suburbs, I’ve used just about every option to watch sports over the years. I’ll run a few down for you, with my rankings:
Free options
1. Over the air antenna. This is the cheapest option in total as you need nothing more than an antenna and a dumb TV, and if you live in or near a major city, you’ll get the major networks and a surprising amount more for nothing. This will not let you watch the Cards all that often, but you can watch the games of the week and some of the playoffs. It basically covers you for almost everything important in football, though.
2. Free Live Sports. This is new so I haven’t used it, but alleges that you can get a number of free channels that show sporting events around the world. I think it’s only available as an app on Roku.
Cheap options
1. Paramount Plus. For relatively cheap, you’ll get your local CBS games for NFL and college. This is good if you’re a fan of the AFC or a Big Ten team. I used it as my go to for regular season games for several years.
2. Peacock. You can watch whatever NBC offers and for a fairly decent price. As a fan of The Office, I appreciated that. Following Big Ten football, it’s nice to get the night games.
3. Amazon Prime. You’re probably already using it, and they are picking up sports all the time. A weekly NFL game plus NBA and NHL coming soon, and I would not be surprised if they dug into MLB soon too.
Low End Full Package Streaming Services
1. Sling TV. This will get you in the door for sports and it’s relatively decently priced, but the packages are somewhat limited individually. It does not have all the local channels, typically. I typically went Orange for the ESPN access but blue has the locals. Blue + Orange comes in a bit less than the other more expensive options.
2. Vidgo. It has ESPN and I had it for a trial and a month. It had a lot of sporting options, and they all came in the basic package. It was cheaper than the big box guys. But it never streamed as well for me, which knocks it below Sling and almost everyone else.
3. Tubi. I think you can get some locals free, but it’s limited. I personally never used it.
4. Philo TV. It’s cheap but I’m not sure there’s any sports at all on it, so it’s obviously last if you’re needing that.
Full Service TV Providers
1. YouTube TV. This is the Cadillac of streaming services. It’s got everything you’d be looking for sports wise and it’s on the best streaming platform there is. I lived in an area with no inernet service (for real, I had to hotspot my mobile device for service) and I never had issues with buffering or cutting out, and very rarely low quality video (always on my end). I used this one at least one month every year (typically NFL playoffs/college bowls) while I lived in the country.
2. Hulu Live TV. It offers most all the channels that YouTube TV does, but typically didn’t stream quite as well or clearly for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was fine and I used it more than any other service besides YouTube TV. I’d say if you like what else Hulu has to offer TV or movie wise, there is some value there.
3. Fubo TV. I used this a few times for free trials or a month. I felt like it did everything fairly well, and it had all the channels I usually used. It just wasn’t as crisp an experience as YouTube TV, so I probably only paid for a month once or twice. It also lacks TBS and TNT, which have a surprising amount of sports you’d like to watch, like the NCAA basketball tournament, MLB playoffs, and will have college football playoffs this year too.
4. DirecTV Stream. Pricey and I don’t think it does anything better than the options above. I used it for a free trial and that was it.
I also used the PlayStation TV service when it existed, and probably whatever else I found at any point. Lol. Personally, I used YouTube TV the most, but you can try out free trials to see what you like best. If you have multiple emails that you use regularly, you could probably try out all the services back to back for a few months straight…
I would add that you need to talk with your significant other regarding the channels that are most important to him/her. And then make sure those channels are included in YouTube TV or Hulu+ or whoever you are zeroing in on.
I know from personal experience that not having Hallmark Channel, for example, resulted in major time in the penalty box for yours truly and an unplanned course readjustment.
I also learned after the fact that my chosen service did not initially carry MLB Network (though they added it later). Not a killer, but it is a nice channel to have at times.
One benefit of Hulu+ is that they offer an additional bundle that includes Disney+ and ESPN+. The latter includes access to all of their insider content posted on the web that otherwise carries a subscription cost. But only if that matters to you…
So, take the time to compare channels as the streaming services are not all the same. Good luck in your decision.
I had sling a few years ago and thought it was solid. I know that you have tiers and those tiers have x amount of streams you can use per household.
I’ve seen some bars have YouTube TV. Some friends have Hulu TV and like it and direct TV has streaming as well. Pair those with an antenna and you should be ok for the most part.
I gets all the games for free but we won’t get into that. Also MLB Network I believe has a stream option on its own.
Some great information stlcard25!
And I concur with bling and Brian. My wife pays for our Prime out of her account, so we have that. There is a lot on there too, although I don’t know about sports.
And the Hallmark Channel is a “must have” for Lady Bike, especially around the holiday season as she loves the sort of cheesy holiday movies.
FWIW, we have over-the-air and Prime, and that’s it. Several years ago I installed an antenna in the garage rafters, and used the cable that had been the cable TV wiring, and connected it to the antenna. So I did not need to re-wire the TVs. Works great and we get a ton of free over-the-air channels and the networks.
If a game is on local or a free streaming service (or Prime) that I want to watch great, if not I don’t watch (obviously). And I get “free” MLB.TV every year through being a T-Mobile customer.
Lets say two miracles happen in 2025, world peace and the Cardinals in post season. Then lets say the game is on FS1 like tonight’s Dodgers-Mets game. If you cut cable and just have streaming, how do you watch that? In other words, just because somebody ponies up and gets whatever it takes to watch Cardinals games next season doesn’t mean you can watch post season, does it? You might have to pony up for something altogether different.
Bling Directv has everything for mama and me. I assume it will pick up the Cardinals again. Its $80 a month in a bundled package with wifi and intrrnet. The 80 is added to my phone and wifi
bling asked:
Lets say two miracles happen in 2025, world peace and the Cardinals in post season. Then lets say the game is on FS1 like tonight’s Dodgers-Mets game. If you cut cable and just have streaming, how do you watch that? In other words, just because somebody ponies up and gets whatever it takes to watch Cardinals games next season doesn’t mean you can watch post season, does it? You might have to pony up for something altogether different.
Though how the Cardinals will be delivered in 2025 is unclear, that would have been correct in 2024. And it probably will not change in 2025.
MLB packages are for the regular season, but not every game is included. MLB sells the post-season rights separately, just like the Friday night games that were on Apple which are also excluded from MLB packages.
In your example, FS1 is not a free channel. It would need to be part of a programming package to which you subscribe, such as YouTube TV or a cable or other provider.
Even worse, different levels of the playoffs are on different networks. Some games are on TBS/TNT, for example.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.